Irish Congress of Trade Unions' President John Douglas has welcomed the decision of the Revenue Commissioners to formally wind up the Paris Bakery company, thereby giving the workers access to the state Insolvency Fund.
Mr Douglas said: 'the decision by Revenue to wind up Paris Bakery is welcome insofar as it solves this particular problem and gives the workers some long overdue redress.
'they deserve great credit for their resolve and courage throughout this dispute.
"But let's be clear: the only reason we had dispute in the first place arose from Government failure to close a loophole that allowed employers to simply cease trading and walk away from their obligations – in the case of the Paris Bakery workers that amounted to over €100,000 in unpaid wages and other costs.
'so we have a fix for today's problem, but not tomorrow's issue.
"Paris Bakery is history repeating itself. We"ve seen the same scenario in Vita Cortex, La Senza, HMV, Game, Thomas Cook and Connolly Shoes.
"Let this be the last example. Close the loophole and stop this happening again," Mr Douglas said.
The campaign of the Paris Bakery workers was supported by Congress, with General Secretary David Begg demanding Government move to close the "informal insolvency" loophole, while the issue was also raised by Congress at the ILO International Labour Conference, in Geneva.
